Parksville flooded by sudden storm

CBC

City officials and residents in Parksville, B.C., are mopping up this morning after a short but intense storm rolled across the seaside town on the east coast of Vancouver Island last night, flooding some roads and basements.

Mayor Chris Burger says the intensity of the sudden storm took everyone by surprise and backed-up the city's sewer system within minutes.

"It was a matter of literally minutes — that's how quickly this storm developed — and in that very short period of time it dropped enough water that it overwhelmed our storm sewers in some areas of the city, and we ended up with some brief flooding," he said.

"This particular storm was a better-than-a-one-in-100-year event. According to our weather station, it dumped 1.25 inches [32 mm] of rain less in than 18 minutes. So you can image when... if you get that kind of volume of water in such a concentrated area, it does overwhelm your infrastructure."

BC Hydro reported 4,000 homes and businesses lost their power just after 8 p.m. PT Monday, but it was restored within a few hours.

Last week an intense storm dumped 18 mm of rain on parts of Metro Vancouver in about one hour.